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More than 800,000 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates will sit the compulsory papers starting today.

Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) Chief Executive Secretary David Njengere (left) said yesterday that all is set for KCSE, noting that tight security measures have been put in place to ensure the exams are delivered safely to all centres.

He said the Standard Eight and Grade Six exams were executed successfully, and the same is expected of KCSE.

“Today, we are starting the big candidature papers; they have been doing small candidature papers. We are now starting the compulsory ones, said Njengere.

There are 493 examination containers, which are to be opened at 7am, with the CEO assuring that the examinations are secure, nobody else has access to them, and that all learners will see the papers on the same day and time after they are opened. The students have been taking oral and practical papers in the past two weeks, with theory exams  expected to run for the next three weeks.

On Monday, the candidates will sit their Mathematics Paper 1 and English (Comprehension, Literary Appreciation and Grammar) examination.

Isiolo County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding yesterday assured education stakeholders that security has been beefed up.

“Police officers will keep vigil at all examination centres and have instructions on the action to take to safeguard the integrity of the examination,” said Omoding.

He said the officers would be expected to ensure the examination scripts, invigilators and candidates are secure, right from the seven examination distribution centres across the county, adding that KNEC helicopters are on standby to cater for areas that could be rendered impassable by the ongoing rains.

He commended the security personnel in charge of the just-concluded Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), saying there were no ugly incidents reported. He was optimistic that the KCSE examination would also be fine.

The County Commissioner said the containers from where the examinations will be distributed, would be opened at 7am, with all the authorities and school managers present.

He urged chiefs and their assistants to be frontrunners of government policy implementation and to wear uniform so as to be easily identified by school managers, supervisors and security officers as they monitor the examination’s progress.